And People Wonder Why I Don't Miss Tulsa.

Home of the first privately owned city/county jail in the nation. It was no holds barred once they figured out how to jail citizens for a profit. Contract it out with a corporation. While you're at it, contract out their medical care!

(Video Below)Sheriff Stanley Glanz, healthcare facilitators, and other jail workers are facing a lawsuit, alleging a lack of mental and physical care for an inmate contributed to his death.

Elliott Earl Williams died at age 37 at the Tulsa County Jail after five days in October of 2011.

A woman responsible for his estate filed the lawsuit. It alleges that Owasso Police arrested Williams following a disturbance call. The lawsuit references the police report, saying it was "readily apparent" Williams was having a "mental breakdown". He was arrested and taken to Owasso Police Headquarters for booking on a misdemeanor obstruction charge.

During that time, the lawsuit says he crawled on his hands on knees barking and screaming. It said he slammed his head against the wall many times.

Police reportedly moved Williams to the Tulsa County Jail shortly thereafter. The lawsuit states that during booking there, Williams said he could not walk and begged staff to "cut it out of my belly."

The lawsuit states that he was not initially separated from other inmates. Following an examination from a psychiatrist later on, he was moved to what is called a "suicide cell".

Video surveillance of the cell shows Williams lying on his back, dipping his fingers in a water cup, and bringing them to his lips. He appears otherwise immobile.

The lawsuit and video show that at some point on October 27, 2011, staff attempted to resuscitate Williams but did not succeed. He died five days after entering the Tulsa County Jail.

The medical examiner's office reports it was likely a spinal injury from blunt force trauma that caused his death.

The lawyer of the woman who filed the suit told Channel 8 "no comment."

Channel 8 spoke with representatives from the National Alliance on Mental Illness. One person said she has received at least 12 calls in the last six months relating to concerns from incarcerated people's loved ones. They are often concerned about inmates' access to medications.

NAMI Board Member Mary Ellen Jones said of this case, "I just wonder, how did he [Williams] end up in jail instead of treatment?" She said people with mental illness are not criminals. Rather, she said crimes sometimes occur as a result of their illnesses.

The Sheriff's Office said on any given day, there are about 500 of 1,700 inmates that take medications for mental issues.

Major Shannon Clark said patients go through an extensive medical review before they are booked into housing. However, staff is not always aware of any mental problems upon initial entry. He said over 14 days, inmates go through a physical examination, which includes mental evaluation.

"Obviously, the death was a very unfortunate situation at the jail. On the advice of our counsel, because it is active litigation, we can't comment on it, but we are actively looking forward to defending this in court," Clark said.

Our government prisons have enough profit-motive to fuck the justice system up but private-prisons?

Shit, the corps who run them have lobbied for get-tough-on-crime legislation. Think on that one.

We already have more prisoners than any other nation in the world. Why introduce a greater profit-motive?

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Why would you even put this guy in a jail cell? On a misdemeanor, no less.

Police officers who responded to the call found Williams in the lobby of the hotel having what appeared to be a mental breakdown. A police report stated that the 37-year-old was 'rambling about God' and 'eating dirt.’

Home of the first privately owned city/county jail in the nation. It was no holds barred once they figured out how to jail citizens for a profit. Contract it out with a corporation. While you're at it, contract out their medical care!

(Video Below)Sheriff Stanley Glanz, healthcare facilitators, and other jail workers are facing a lawsuit, alleging a lack of mental and physical care for an inmate contributed to his death.

Elliott Earl Williams died at age 37 at the Tulsa County Jail after five days in October of 2011.

A woman responsible for his estate filed the lawsuit. It alleges that Owasso Police arrested Williams following a disturbance call. The lawsuit references the police report, saying it was "readily apparent" Williams was having a "mental breakdown". He was arrested and taken to Owasso Police Headquarters for booking on a misdemeanor obstruction charge.

During that time, the lawsuit says he crawled on his hands on knees barking and screaming. It said he slammed his head against the wall many times.

Police reportedly moved Williams to the Tulsa County Jail shortly thereafter. The lawsuit states that during booking there, Williams said he could not walk and begged staff to "cut it out of my belly."

The lawsuit states that he was not initially separated from other inmates. Following an examination from a psychiatrist later on, he was moved to what is called a "suicide cell".

Video surveillance of the cell shows Williams lying on his back, dipping his fingers in a water cup, and bringing them to his lips. He appears otherwise immobile.

The lawsuit and video show that at some point on October 27, 2011, staff attempted to resuscitate Williams but did not succeed. He died five days after entering the Tulsa County Jail.

The medical examiner's office reports it was likely a spinal injury from blunt force trauma that caused his death.

The lawyer of the woman who filed the suit told Channel 8 "no comment."

Channel 8 spoke with representatives from the National Alliance on Mental Illness. One person said she has received at least 12 calls in the last six months relating to concerns from incarcerated people's loved ones. They are often concerned about inmates' access to medications.

NAMI Board Member Mary Ellen Jones said of this case, "I just wonder, how did he [Williams] end up in jail instead of treatment?" She said people with mental illness are not criminals. Rather, she said crimes sometimes occur as a result of their illnesses.

The Sheriff's Office said on any given day, there are about 500 of 1,700 inmates that take medications for mental issues.

Major Shannon Clark said patients go through an extensive medical review before they are booked into housing. However, staff is not always aware of any mental problems upon initial entry. He said over 14 days, inmates go through a physical examination, which includes mental evaluation.

"Obviously, the death was a very unfortunate situation at the jail. On the advice of our counsel, because it is active litigation, we can't comment on it, but we are actively looking forward to defending this in court," Clark said.

Despite that, and the fact that Arizona outsourced their prison medical care to an outfit they wound up canning less than a year later, the beat goes on.

The attitude of most folks out here is, "who cares? They're criminals anyway!"

My thing is that I don't believe it makes sound fiscal sense. There are just some functions that the government does that aren't profitable, or can't/shouldn't be made to be profitable. Prisons, highway patrol, police (what's next? Omnicorp like in Robocop?), etc.

The liability loss is going to be HUGE in the lawsuits brought against the State for the damage those fucktards did while they were loose. Liability is looming too for the poor, "for profit" medical care doled out to the inmates as well.

It's funny, I remember about 10 years ago, inmates used to tell me that the medical care in the prisons was "pretty good" (as compared to the County system). The decision to privatize the prison medical care system was done SOLELY to line pockets.

Why would you even put this guy in a jail cell? On a misdemeanor, no less.

Police officers who responded to the call found Williams in the lobby of the hotel having what appeared to be a mental breakdown. A police report stated that the 37-year-old was 'rambling about God' and 'eating dirt.â€™

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I just wonder why they didn't immediately take him to a hospital? Why bring him to a police station, book him, throw him in a cell and then, despite the fact that you observed him on the street eating fucking dirt, you wait until he starts barking and banging his head on the wall to think it might be a good idea to get a psychiatrist in there?

First thing that comes to my mind is if he were thrashing wildly while they were attempting to cuff him, and they got him on his stomach? Where's the first place a cop's knee goes?

The first town (Owasso) he was booked in is a suburb of Tulsa. Not real big and a fairly wealthy area. Then they transfer him to another jail? In Tulsa?
It's a city of 1/2 a million people. There are TONS of places they could have taken him.

But they won't get the federal money for not having him in jail if they take him to a psychiatric facility. Funny how that works, isn't it?

A guy is yelling "cut it out of me!" and you don't want him in a cell? I'm sure there is plenty of room for neglect and cost-cutting there, but other than failing to put him in a straight jacket and chain him to something, I don't see the problem. I'm fairly sure that they see so many idiots acting crazy they assume he's just going to settle down eventually. He pounded his own head, right? And there have been tons of similar issues with government run jails and prisons. It's not like Harvard's finest are rushing to work in prisons and not like they really care much whomever they work for. Prison and jail guards are notorious for being sadistic and semi-retarded. It's a job any clown can get so you won't be getting Tom Hanks no matter where the place is.

Why would you even put this guy in a jail cell? On a misdemeanor, no less.

Police officers who responded to the call found Williams in the lobby of the hotel having what appeared to be a mental breakdown. A police report stated that the 37-year-old was 'rambling about God' and 'eating dirt.’

Didn't Kenneth Keith's family sue one of those for-profit prisons after he died?

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Yes, he'll be missed. He probably would have cured cancer by now. Prisons and jails are one of the few legitimate functions of government so I don't see the big need for privatization, but it's not like regular ones are paragons of efficiency either.

A guy is yelling "cut it out of me!" and you don't want him in a cell? I'm sure there is plenty of room for neglect and cost-cutting there, but other than failing to put him in a straight jacket and chain him to something, I don't see the problem. I'm fairly sure that they see so many idiots acting crazy they assume he's just going to settle down eventually. He pounded his own head, right? And there have been tons of similar issues with government run jails and prisons. It's not like Harvard's finest are rushing to work in prisons and not like they really care much whomever they work for. Prison and jail guards are notorious for being sadistic and semi-retarded. It's a job any clown can get so you won't be getting Tom Hanks no matter where the place is.

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After the first cell in Owasso, probably 25-30 miles from where they transferred him to, somebody, somewhere, should have said, "Maybe we should take him to Parkside...
Are you gonna sit here and tell me that he should be stripped naked and thrown in a cell with a blanket for a fucking misdemeanor? Seriously?

They open the door and give him water that he was observed dipping his fingers in and then putting him in his mouth? The man died of blunt force trauma to the spine. Then they toss in a food tray which is unopened the next time they bring in another food tray to toss in?
With spine damage? Could he even reach it. Could he even chew or swallow it if he did?

Wouldn't a thinking person be curious as to how this guy hasn't eaten a bite of food and has had one cup of water in all this time? Maybe even have him checked out by medical personnel?

But speaking of medical personnel? I want you to watch how hard the medics try to make his heart beat again, because they know they're fucked. They couldn't come see him in the previous days while he lay there starving and dying of dehydration.

Is this really how you want a person that's been picked up on a misdemeanor charge to be treated. What if he was mentally unbalanced and picked up for unpaid parking tickets?
Would your beliefs change at all?